Election night, watch the blogs don't bite
Wednesday, May 02, 2007

It'll never work. But let's have a bash anyway.

Here's the idea: I'll be sitting somewhere in the BBC with Joe Allen of Wales Elects. I'm told it's going to be semi-outside so I might wear the Doctor Who coat.

The two of us will have computers. This is bad news. It's impossible not to look like a techie geek if you're sitting in front of a computer on television. We might even be wearing glasses.

We were both probably bullied at school.

Anyway, the idea is (I think) that we live blog from within the BBC's election hub in Llandaf. This is, by the way, just about the only kind of hub the Lib Dems haven't promised in their manifesto.

But more than that, we'll be monitoring your blogs too and discussing the best of them through the night on the BBC's output in Welsh and English.

There is, of course, a very real danger that nobody will have written anything. Welsh politics is quite a small world at the best of times. And at 4 o'clock in the morning it's probably about as active as Nick Griffin's left eye.

So whether you're a politician, a crony, an observer or a pleb, get blogging on election night so that we can attempt the kind of multi-media convergence the BBC hasn't seen since Sara Edwards once accidentally answered a telephone in the newsroom. It doesn't matter how early or late you post. You don't even have to blog at all, you might simply wish to comment on what other people have written. Just give us a flavour of how you think it's all going and we'll lick it up and spit it out again.

If you want a badge to let us know you're joining in, then shove this picture on your site. Otherwise, just blog away. I'm sure it won't be hard to find you.

By the way, Scottish and even English bloggers are more than welcome to pinch this badge. Some have already done so.

Here's a framed one in case you're a noncy type.

Perhaps we could all cross-fertilize on the night itself? I'm told if Scottish people write stuff down it's just about possible to understand them:)

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posted by Blamerbell @ 12:12 am, ,


Election 2007: The Debate
Monday, April 30, 2007

The leaders went head to head, but only after each giving a two minute pregeth to the nation. I have no idea why politicians insist on this kind of unrestricted airtime. Someone should tell them that debate programmes are about people holding them to account and speaking their minds, not sitting captive so they can be brainwashed. Anyway, since Martin Shipton has lifted the taboo on elaborate (and subjective) ranking features, I've come up with my own:

Rhodri Morgan (Labour)

'... And that's 500,000 reasons to vote Labour.' What, in two minutes? I was jotting them down and only got to number five by the time he started freestyling. Stumped by Mike German and Ieuan Wyn Jones and heckled by the audience. Not his finest hour.

5/10





Ieuan Wyn Jones (Plaid)

Yap. Yap. Yap. But less so than normal. Probably the audience's favourite with two heartening rounds of applause. Nick Bourne asked him if people really wanted Plaid's policy of a seat in the United Nations, to which he replied 'of course not'. Right, so why bovva then?

7/10




Nick Bourne (Tory)

Came out fighting after a tough week. Made the Conservative case very clearly and was untroubled by all that was thrown at him. Except that bloke wearing the patch at the end, but surely everyone thought he was a bit weird?

6/10



Mike German (Lib Dem)

Won the two minute spiel and was otherwise competent. Managed to avoid sounding too cocky about the fact he'll soon be leaving such events in a ministerial car. Also won the battle of the postures. A good night, will probably celebrate with a ryvita and some half-fat cream cheese.

7/10

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posted by Blamerbell @ 12:00 am, ,


Wales and the £1 billion arms trade with India
Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Whatever celebrity BB winner Shilpa Shetty has done for India's image there remain a few basic facts about India:
- It is a nuclear power
- It has the world's second largest army
- It is at war in Kashmir and Assam and in nuclear tension with Pakistan
- It is stricken with poverty

A new one to add to the list is that increasing numbers of Indian fighter pilots are being trained in Wales.

Prime Minister Tony Blair famously courted a huge arms contract with India in 2002, a week after saying he hoped Britain could have a "calming influence" on the conflict between India and Pakistan. At the time, Britain was also supplying arms materials to Pakistan - effectively arming both sides in the battle.

Shilpa may be rich and beautiful, but she didn't manage to get across the fact that of its nearly 1 billion inhabitants, an estimated 400 million people in India live below the poverty line.

Meanwhile, in RAF Valley, Indian pilots train to use the 132 Hawk Jets bought by the Indian government at a cost of roughly £1 billion. That's the equivalent of ten years bilateral aid.

The truth is that India is engaged in conflict. Those endearing chaps who come to Wales and struggle with the language and the lack of vegetarian food may soon be shooting at people. And the cost of it all is diverting funds from those who are in desperate need. While India's glitzy celebs enjoy their moment in the British tabloids, let's spare a thought for the hundreds of millions who - thanks in part to an unforgiving global arms trade - don't think about anything beyond their next meal.

Source: The Hindu

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posted by Blamerbell @ 6:44 am, ,


Peter Hain on the 'Balkanisation of Britain'
Monday, January 15, 2007

It's not quite 'Save the Pound' in terms of a last minute, jingoistic whip-round, but it's close.

Only Labour will preserve the United Kingdom, says Peter Hain today.

"Our shared values and interests are now under threat as never before from an opportunistic coalition of myopic Tories and the narrow separatists of Plaid Cymru and the Scottish Nationalists. The Tories, despite once priding themselves as 'the party of the Union', now place selfish party advantage ahead of national interest. By trying to whip up and then harness nationalist sentiment in England, they risk unleashing forces which can lead to only one thing: the Balkanisation of Britain."

In a bizarre move, the Welsh Secretary also cites the BBC's Doctor Who to back-up his faith in the Union; another case of Wales underselling itself as the plucky lower league outfit, punching somewhere near its weight.

In which other country would a slightly above average television drama be used as evidence of political prosperity? Does Tony Blair make speeches hailing Eastenders' contribution to showcasing England on the British stage?

To finish off, Hain contracts a century of history into a simple win-win formula:

"The Union has shaped every aspect of our lives, in Wales just as much as in Scotland and England. The contribution of Wales to the industrial development of Britain was enormous, helping to create prosperity and to turn us into a world power."

Nothing to do with the Empire then, Peter?

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posted by Blamerbell @ 8:44 am, ,


Bloggers say the nicest things
Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Just spotted this from BBC Wales Westminster correspondent David Cornock:

Sounds good

posted by David | 0825 GMT |

Ciaran Jenkins, author of Blamerbell Briefs and a rising star of the blogosphere, recently described my efforts as "sound but infrequent".

Ciaran may have confused me with someone without a job or a life but at the risk of failing his time and motion study again, I'm taking some time off over Christmas...


Not a disciple of the Peter Black school of blogging then - even posting on Christmas eve after being bitten by a dog.

Indeed, Mr Black too has kind words about this blog. (If only I could fashion one of those Iain Dale style changing banners of flattery.)

And so, as you can see by this meandering 2am trudge through the results of my weekly self-aggrandizing google search, you're right David: probably best to give it a rest over Christmas.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 1:44 am, ,